


albatross

by sweetwatersong



Category: Firefly, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Firefly Verse, Gen, The Tesseract (Marvel)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-08
Updated: 2014-10-08
Packaged: 2018-02-20 09:55:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 358
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2424404
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sweetwatersong/pseuds/sweetwatersong
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>"She can't stop now. She wants to show us something! A new universe..."</i> </p><p>  <i>"Who we gonna find in there when she wakes up? The girl? Or the weapon?"</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	albatross

**Author's Note:**

> A stand-alone idea that never evolved into a longer story.

“Hand her over, Captain, and we don’t have to make this into an issue,” Rogers said, holding out an entreating hand. He was good, for an Alliance operative. The expression on his guileless face was perfect, conveying assurance, honesty, regret. Hell, even his voice sounded sincere.

“She’s just a girl, _Captain_ ,” Mal returned, his gun steady as he trained it on the star over the other man’s heart. Convenient target, that. “So you can understand if I take exception to your demands.”

“She’s not human.” It was the red-head with a killer’s stare, speaking for the first time since the strangers had spread out on _Serenity_ ’s loading dock. Something in her gaze made Mal shudder, thinking of the hollow-eyed fighters on the battlefield who had seen more death than any man or woman rightly should; the walking dead, waiting for a bullet to the brain.

“Excuse me? I’m sorry, but I saw her crawl buck naked out of a tub. She might be strange in the head, but you’re going to have to do better to convince me she’s not human.”

Roger considered him, weighing Mal, his history, his character. It itched, that judgment, and only the armed team waiting for such an outburst kept him from giving in.

“She’s not human, Reynolds,” the other man said at last. “River Tam did exist, and she did go to a very special school, but what’s standing beside you is only human in form. It’s called the Tesseract, and we need it back.”

The girl in question, standing almost absentmindedly behind the protective line of _Serenity_ ’s crew, stiffened.

“Simon?” She stared blindly past the Alliance folk, past the masses weaving through the market, and reached out a pale hand. “Simon?”

Her brother – or River’s brother, at any rate – shifted to step back and catch her trembling fingers between his own, never turning his back on the Alliance team arrayed before them.

“I’m here,” he told her, voice soothing. She turned her head to look at him, terror in her wide eyes.

“The portal. It’s opening.”

And just for a moment, Mal could have sworn those eyes gleamed blue.


End file.
